American Admiral forgets about Nuclear War

Article originally published by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

In late February, Adm. Charles Richard, head of US Strategic Command, told a House committee that the innovations going into a new nuclear warhead are what make him “proud to be an American.”

He was referring to the W93, a new nuclear warhead that will be used on submarine-launched ballistic missiles and that the Trump administration wants $53 million to start work on this year. While the design and timeline remain unclear, the administration forecasts that the price tag for developing and building this new weapon will reach over $1 billion per year in the next four years. The W93 would join or replace at least three other submarine-launched nuclear warheads that already exist and for which billions already have been and are still being spent to modernize.

The admiral’s musings about what makes him proud of his country sent me back to a conversation about nuclear weapons from just a couple weeks before. And pride certainly was not the emotion that conversation evoked.

I was attending a forum in Paris hosted by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN). The forum, titled “How to Ban Bombs and Influence People,” brought together students, activists, artists, and experts from across the globe. Together, they explored how to advance the cause of nuclear disarmament by building intersectionality with—and gaining insights from—other movements that address issues such as climate change, human rights, or conventional arms. (I am proud to work for one of ICAN’s US partners, the Friends Committee on National Legislation.)

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